Slurry Wall

Beacon Hill Station is part of the 22.5 km initial segment of Sound Transit's Central Link Light Rail. It is located 49 m below the ground surface in complex glacial soils with multiple groundwater horizons. The project comprises deep mined station tunnels and two 1.5 km long running tunnels excavated using a tunnel boring machine. The mined station was excavated through compressible glacial soils with multiple groundwater horizons using conventional mining techniques. The access shafts and station headhouses were constructed using slurry walls and cut-and-cover techniques.

Currently over 150,000 passengers use the station daily and with the completion of Crossrail in 2017, passenger numbers are expected to increase to over 200,000. The tunnels are of diameters between 4.0m and 11.0m and typically consist of a temporary sprayed concrete primary lining, a spray applied waterproofing membrane and a cast-in-place concrete secondary lining. Multiple transitions and interfaces to existing LU structures make for a challenging design and construction project under the busy streets of central London.

The Beacon Hill Tunnels and Station are part of the 22.5km initial segment of the Sound Transit Central Link Light Rail Line that will establish a high capacity commuter connection from downtown Seattle to Tacoma. The 1300m running tunnel under Beacon Hill will be mined by Earth Pressure Balance Machine (EPB), while the deep mined Station will be constructed using slurry walls and the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), referred to as Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) for this project.